I like the special thanks at the end....
"A Tremendous Thank You To:
Industrial Light & Magic"

50one

02-16-2011, 10:29 AM

Nice, any idea if LW was used? Modo was used to render that cityscape and corridor/elevator as far as I'm concerned.

jeric_synergy

02-16-2011, 10:38 AM

I wouldn't EVER call that "steampunk". "Retro-Futuristic dystopia" is more like it.

Nice, any idea if LW was used? Modo was used to render that cityscape and corridor/elevator as far as I'm concerned.
From the render look?

Titus

02-16-2011, 10:47 AM

I wouldn't EVER call that "steampunk". "Retro-Futuristic dystopia" is more like it.

Yes sir, you're completely right.

I love the retro-futuristic dystopia style.

hrgiger

02-16-2011, 11:16 AM

Hmm, nicely done but I don't get what I was supposed to get out of it. The guy manipulated his young daughter by promising her a surpise, then slammed the phone down on her when he got what he wanted. Mommy was right, he was not a good person.

cagey5

02-16-2011, 11:19 AM

You still couldn't be sure what numbers he dialled in. Did he go for life or did he realise what a useless piece of '%$& he'd become and enter the termination code..

You still couldn't be sure what numbers he dialled in. Did he go for life or did he realise what a useless piece of '%$& he'd become and enter the termination code..

...and also until you're in that same position who's to say what we would each do? Looks like it was a life or death decision. Also, the ballerina doll was most likely the gift for his daughter. There's a whole story back there that we're not seeing. A nice short film that makes you think. Nice!

Kuzey

02-16-2011, 01:37 PM

Wow...I hope this becomes a full motion picture :thumbsup:

Kuzey

Titus

02-16-2011, 02:16 PM

Hmm, nicely done but I don't get what I was supposed to get out of it. The guy manipulated his young daughter by promising her a surpise, then slammed the phone down on her when he got what he wanted. Mommy was right, he was not a good person.

The ultimate goal in life is survival, and in the journey we take good and bad choices (not good or bad people), it seems he made a bad and desperate one. Does the wife needs a battery? maybe she is wealthy enough to get another license. He clearly is aware of the implication of getting his ex-wife numbers, but there's a more urgent problem to solve.

jeric_synergy

02-17-2011, 01:17 PM

Yes sir, you're completely right.

I love the retro-futuristic dystopia style.

Thank you Titus: didn't want to be pedantic, but if we let such things slide our genres become meaningless. :thumbsup:

Very cool work, and excellent prop work. Was the 'dying crab thingy on the floor' a prop or CGI???? Sometimes I find it's hard to get 'purist' producer/directors to see where CGI could save them money/enhance their production on things like prop savings.

hrgiger

02-17-2011, 01:26 PM

The ultimate goal in life is survival, and in the journey we take good and bad choices (not good or bad people), it seems he made a bad and desperate one. Does the wife needs a battery? maybe she is wealthy enough to get another license. He clearly is aware of the implication of getting his ex-wife numbers, but there's a more urgent problem to solve.

I'm not sure the ultimate goal in life is survival. After all, everyone dies. I would think the ultimate goal would to live a life worth remembering. In this, I think this guy fails. No matter what choices he made in life leading up to his wife deciding he's a terrible person, he still had a little girl that loved him. The fact that he slammed the phone down on her as soon as he got the number suggests his survival meant more then anything else to him. I suppose it's up for interpertation, but I'm giving him a thumbs down. Like I said, I admire the work, it was clearly well done but the story left me with an unsettling feeling. If that was the artitsts intent, then well done again.

Cryonic

02-17-2011, 01:55 PM

I'm not sure the ultimate goal in life is survival. After all, everyone dies. I would think the ultimate goal would to live a life worth remembering.

So, what about the trillions of non-human life that live, eat, give birth and die? How are they remembered by those that come later? The true goal of all life is to survive to procreate. That is the only real imperative that matters in the long run.

hrgiger

02-17-2011, 02:47 PM

So, what about the trillions of non-human life that live, eat, give birth and die? How are they remembered by those that come later? The true goal of all life is to survive to procreate. That is the only real imperative that matters in the long run.

As far as we know, animals and other life are just acting on instinct with the need to procreate. Humans no longer procreate out of instinct nor are they reproducing for fear of declining population. For humans (which are the particular life that are creating this film and thus the target of my statement), life has primarily become about the human condition and the quality of ones life. If you're only and ultimate goal is to survive as a human, you need to set your goals higher.

Lightwolf

02-17-2011, 02:52 PM

... life has primarily become about the human condition and the quality of ones life.
Rationally yes. But we're not even half as rational as we'd like to think. There's a lot more of the survival to procreate instincts in us - up to what we consider as being social behaviour.

Cheers,
Mike

Titus

02-17-2011, 02:59 PM

If you're only and ultimate goal is to survive as a human, you need to set your goals higher.

No one said is the only goal, we have many but the ultimate is survival. When our life is not in clear danger we can devote ourselves to more long standing goals. This story is the exact case when a person is put in that exact dilemma. Hanging the telephone to your daughter is nothing when you have seconds (minutes? hours?) to save your own life.

JeffrySG

02-17-2011, 04:29 PM

So, what about the trillions of non-human life that live, eat, give birth and die? How are they remembered by those that come later? The true goal of all life is to survive to procreate. That is the only real imperative that matters in the long run.

Planning on have a lot of children are you? ;)

stiff paper

03-01-2011, 01:54 PM

I just saw a Gnomon Master Class about "The 3rd Letter", with the director, and he used LW to render quite a bit of it. The view of the big building, inside the train, all rendered in LW. Animation and rigging was done in XSI for the train doors and exported with Point Oven. It seems that the effects crew all used different packages, so it took in Maya, LW, Modo, XSI. Can't remember if it said Max, but it could have done.

probiner

03-01-2011, 03:42 PM

Many thanks for the link William. One of those bonbon shorts.

Cheers

Hieron

03-02-2011, 09:48 AM

As far as we know, animals and other life are just acting on instinct with the need to procreate. Humans no longer procreate out of instinct nor are they reproducing for fear of declining population.

hehehe... things may just be alot less clear than that as plenty animals do not only operate on instinct alone and some teenage moms have kids more due to instinct than a clear plan I'm sure. And countries adopting laws to promote many children is exactly due to a fear of declining populations in an aging society and all the issues involved with that.

But I guess this is a tricky discussion better to be avoided. A simple world of "us humans" vs "them animals" is easier to accept for some.